THE WESTPORT Malaysia Dragons put a dampen to the San Miguel Beermen’s homecourt stand as they handed the latter their first defeat in the country with a gutsy 73-70 win in the 3rd AirAsia Asean Basketball League (ABL) late Saturday evening at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
The Dragons exploded in the second period, where they outhustled and outscored the Beermen, 31-7, and then hung on for dear life in the game’s waning moments to preserve their victory.
The imports of the Dragons were huge thorns on the side of the Beermen as were the locals of Malaysia, namely Lo Shee Fai and John Ng who combined for five three-point bombs.
Former PBA import Tiras Wade led Malaysia with 28 points while Brian Williams had just 11 points but made up for it on the boards with 16 rebounds.
SMB got 22 from reinforcement Lamar Johnson and 16 more from Thomas Douglas Kim. However, the Beermen got very little from the rest of the squad.
The Dragons also defeated the Beermen in the opening game of the ABL earlier this year./Correspondent Jonas Panerio